The film revolves around two brothers, the elder being sensitive to violence and the younger being a jobless rogue, settled inThoothukudi. After the death of their father, a police officer, the elder brother takes on the same job by request of the younger. The older brother rises to fame in his job by having his younger brother secretly punish suspects and save victims for him. This angers two of the village's biggest mob bosses, who begin to seek revenge on the elder brother. After getting severely beaten by them, the elder brother loses his fear and becomes physically stronger through training from his younger brother. How the brothers get back at two gangs and protect their families form the rest of the story.

Vettai was released worldwide on 15January 2012.[2] It received positive to mixed reviews and became a box office hit.

Thirumurthy and Gurumurthy are two brothers in Thoothukudi, with Thirumurthy being the elder. He is however sensitive to violence and his younger brother is brave and rogue. Whenever Thirumurthy is beaten by anyone, he has Gurumurthy to finish them. However, Gurumurthy gets frequently punished by his policeman father (Nagendra Babu) for beating up the local people, while Thirumurthy only feels for him. After the death of their father, the now grown-up Thirumurthy (R. Madhavan) takes on the same job by request of Gurumurthy (Arya), who remains a jobless rogue. Meanwhile, Thirumurthy falls for Vasanthi (Sameera Reddy) and Gurumurthy falls for her younger sister Jayanthi (Amala Paul). Subsequently, Thirumurthy marries Vasanthi and both the brothers shift to Vasanthi and Jayanthi's house. A number of humorous incidents follow, such as Jayanthi's to-be husband is actually revealed to be a clumsy NRI, who she disapproves of. She openly expresses her love for Gurumurthy, and hence he subsequently marries her. The NRI, heartbroken takes leave.

Thirumurthy rises to fame in his job by having his younger brother secretly punish suspects and save victims for him. This angers one of the village's biggest mob bosses Annachi (Ashutosh Rana) who begins to seek revenge on Thirumurthy. He has his men to severely beat up Thirumurthy, making the latter confident that his brother will continue his job. Gurumurthy, now enraged, claims that he made his elder brother a policeman not for fake, but to overcome the fears he had and to become stronger. Thus, he begins training up his elder brother, who subsequently loses his fear and manages to defeat a few of Annachi's men. Eventually, Annachi and his men break into the brother's house and cause havoc. Thirumurthy and Gurumurthy arrive and defeat all of Annachi's men, however they seem to be no match for Annachi. Finally after Annachi falls for a trap set by the brothers, he is defeated but the two brothers quarrel whether to kill him or arrest him. Thus, Gurumurthy declares that they will role a gun and when the gun stops rolling at the brothers, they will arrest Annachi. Bu if it stops at Annachi, he will be killed. The gun stops rolling at Annachi and Thirumurthy shoots him dead. As the credits roll, scenes show that Thirumurthy is again congratulated by the local police, but gives equal credit to his brother as well. Through this praise, Gurumurthy also gets to join the police force.

In April 2010, following the success of Paiyaa, Cloud Nine Movies, who had distributed the film, announced a successive collaboration with the film's director N. Linguswamy,[6][11]who would make a romantic action film with Silambarasan in the lead role.[8] For pre-production works, the crew of the team subsequently headed to Macau to work out the script,[12] following which Lingusamy moved to the Orange County resort in Coorg, Karnataka to finalize the script.[13] Later that month a photo shoot was completed, with Silambarsan sporting the get up of an NCC cadet,[14] However, in July 2010, reports suggested that Silambarasan was dropped from the project, since he suddenly, without informing Lingusamy and Dhayanidhi, signed himself up and began working in Vaanam (2011).[15] Silambarasan, in return, revealed that he had not officially signed Cloud Nine Pictures' film, and only decided to work on Vaanam, since Lingusamy was not able to narrate the complete script, despite making him wait for over 100 days.[16] Controversially, Silambarasan later signed another film in September 2010, which was similarly titled as Vettai Mannan.[17][18]

Eventually in September 2010, the film was official announced at a press meet with the title Vettai, with Arya replacing Silambarasan. At the press meet, he revealed that he worked for over three months on the script, keeping his editor Anthony Gonsalvez and cinematographer Nirav Shah updated about the developments.[19] The film's principal photography was initially supposed to commence in June 2010,[20] but due to pre-production works, it got delayed further and was postponed to December.[21] The film was announced as a bilingual project, to be shot separately in Tamil and Telugu. The Telugu version was supposed to be produced by Tirupati Prasad of Mega Supergood Films and feature Mahesh Babu in the lead role,[13] with Madhavan reprising his role.[4] In March 2011, Cloud Nine Movies stepped out of the project, which prompted Linguswamy to produce Vettai, too, under his home banner Thirupathi Brothers along with his brother Subash Chandra Bose.[7][22]

After Silambarasan's exit, Vijay was expected to enact the lead role, who had earlier agreed to star in a Lingusamy film in future,[23] and was subsequently approached by the team.[15] He, however, declined the offer, not willing to play a role that was "originally written keeping in mind the image of another actor".[23] Only in September 2010, during the official announcement, it became apparent that Arya was signed on to reprise the lead role. Furthermore, Linguswamy was trying to rope in Madhavan for another leading role, while, several days later, sources reported that Madhavan definitely had rejected the offer.[24] The next month, however, it was confirmed that Madhavan was roped in to enact the role as apolice officer and brother of Arya's character.[4] Madhavan accepted the film as he was 'blown' away by the story.[25]

The lead female role was reported to be essayed by Tamannaah Bhatia, who had been part of Linguswamy's Paiyaa as well. In an interview later, she disclosed that she was not approached earlier and though she liked the script, she could not take the offer due to her prior commitments.[26]Anushka Shetty then accepted the offer,[27] while Sameera Reddywas signed to play Madhavan's pair in the film, as a village girl.[28] In late November 2010, Anushka pulled out and Amala Paul, following her critically acclaimed performance inMynaa, was roped in to essay a leading character, as the love interest of Arya's character.[29]

Originally planned to commence in June 2010, the filming was postponed several times either due to pending pre-production works and unavailability of the artists.[30] After Arya had finished shooting and dubbing for Avan Ivan, the first schedule was planned to begin on 2 March, which however, was also cancelled as Dhayanidhi wanted the filming to be pushed by another two months, which supposedly was the reason for Linguswamy's decision to produce the film himself. Shooting eventually started on 16 March 2011 in Karaikudi, with Madhavan, Arya, Sameera Reddy and Amala Paul participating.[9] A song "Dumma Dumma Dummaa", choreographed by Brindha, was shot first, with nearly 2000 people being part of the shoot along with the four lead actors.[31][32] A fight sequence, involving Arya and Madhavan, was shot in the Pondicherry University sports complex on 24 April.[33] In June 2011, other key action sequences were filmed at Madurai, Thoothukudi, Thanjavur and Aruppukottai.[34] The introduction song of the film was also shot in Thanjavur.[35] Some action sequences were shot in Madanapalle, a town located in the Chittor district, Andhra Pradesh,[36] while the climax was shot at Binny Mills in Chennai under the supervision of stunt director Silva.[37]

Behindwoods said "Vettai has some peppy likeable soundtracks to its credits. Even if it’s not Yuvan's best, Vettai packages all genres of folksy music well. With songs like 'Pappa Pappa' and the romantic 'Kattipudi', the album is all set to turn out to be a commercial winner".[45] Itwofs criticized the album as underwhelming package of Yuvan.[46]

Vettai received mixed to positive reviews. Behindwoods rated the film 2.5/5 and called it a "light hearted film for the holiday season".[49]Sify's critic wrote: "Lingusamy's Vettai is a racy mass entertainer with all the ingredients mixed in the right proposition. No doubt that the director understands the pulse of the common man and has beautifully packaged it with all the essential commercial elements to suit the taste of the masses".[50] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave 2.5/5 and noted: "Vettai is no classic, but it is good fun."[51] TheTimes of India wrote: "Though there is nothing new in terms of the story or screenplay, the movie is a fun ride as long as it lasts".[52] Rohit Ramachandran of Nowrunning.com rated it 3/5 stating that "Vettai is regular Kollywood stuff superiorly packaged with insurmountable energy.".[53] Malayalam net gave the movie a good rating of (2.75/5) and said that it is a good entertainer".[54] Deccan chronicle wrote:"The first half moves fast with unlimited entertainment, while the post-interval portions falls along predicted lines and pace suffers".[55]Access Kollywood wrote:"Lingusamy knows his onions and does not let the movie lag one bit during its run. He aptly peppers it with the requisite components to make it as entertaining as possible. As they say, leave logic behind and be thoroughly entertained".[56] Hindu wrote:"The story isn't out of the ordinary, but Lingusamy knows where to place twists and how. From Run to Sandakkozhi and now to Vettai, his action ventures, with the exception of Bheema and Ji, have screenplays that sustain the interest of the viewer".[57]

Rachel Saltz of The New York Times wrote: "Vettai partakes of the something-for-everyone formula, mixing the serious — corruption, evil gangs and limb-threatening fights — with the less so: songs, romance and comedy. It entertains without breaking any new ground, though it can also surprise".[58]